Google Adding Street View Images for 150 More Colleges Worldwide

Google is also rolling out bicycling directions and Google Map Maker services in New Zealand via Google Maps, as well as voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions in thousands of towns across India using Google Maps Navigation.

Google
Street View has added images for another 150 colleges and universities around
the world to its ever-growing Street View images collection, giving online
users "you are there" glimpses into more institutions of higher
learning in the United States, Japan, Europe and elsewhere.
"With
classes just getting started, freshman students, transfers and even
empty-nesting parents can now familiarize
themselves with college campuses around the world, including UCLA in the
U.S., Pembroke College in the U.K., McGill University in Canada and Sophia
University in Japan," Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Maps and
Earth, wrote in a Sept. 5 post on the Google
Lat Long Blog. "These new panoramic views join our growing list of
universities whose campuses are already available in Google Maps."

Google
didn't release a list of the newly added schools, but merged them into its
existing list so users can peruse them, according to a Google spokesperson.

Some
of the other newly included schools are York University in Canada, University
of California-Davis, Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Emory University, Florida
Atlantic University, Loyola Marymount University, Stetson University,
University of Notre Dame and Washington State University.
Google
also included the University of North Alabama (UNA), where school officials are
apparently giddy from the attention.
"We
were excited to team
up with the Google Street View team and invite them here to capture a
street-level view of UNA's campus," Jeremy Britten, UNA Web communications
manager, said in a statement. "Google is such a large part of every college
student's online life, and it was really fun to see the Street View car and
trike around campus."

Google
used special cameras mounted to a three-wheel pedicab, or trike, that was
ridden along paths throughout the campus to capture the images.
On
the other side of the world, Google Maps also unveiled new travel-related
services in lush New Zealand, where travelers and local residents will for the
first time have access to turn-by-turn bicycling directions for routes on the
island's lovely roads, wrote McClendon. If their desired biking routes are not
on Google Maps already, they'll now be able to use Google Map Maker to add bike
lanes, trails and other features so that they can be used by others.
"Beyond biking trails, Map Maker can also be used to make the New Zealand
map more accurate with details such as new road names, building footprints and
more," he wrote.
Google Maps Navigation (Beta)
is also adding new driving navigation services in India to serve the huge and
growing population in the world's second-most-populous nation, where about 1.2
billion people currently live. India is second only to China, which has a 2012
population of about 1.35 billion people. The new service there will provide
voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions in thousands of towns across the country.
"Navigation
is one of the most frequently requested features in this region and can be
especially helpful when driving in densely populated cities like Delhi or
Bangalore," wrote McClendon. "We're also adding live traffic
conditions for major roads with estimated travel times to help you save time
and to reduce stress on the road. "
Google
Maps has been busy with lots of other Street View image additions recently.
In
August, Google Street View expanded its library for online viewers by adding
images of the remote and beautiful Canadian
Arctic hamlet of Cambridge Bay.
Powerful
new Street View images tracking
the rebuilding of New Orleans following the devastation of 2005's Hurricane
Katrina were announced Aug. 14, while images creating a "virtual
tour" of NASA's historic Kennedy Space Center were unveiled Aug. 2.
The
growing Google Street View collection also includes panoramic views of notable
places around the globe, including historic Italy and California national parks,
and highlights of must-see sites in the United States, Poland, Israel, Russia
and the magnificent Swiss Alps.
Google
Street View is even being used by companies in other innovative ways. As part
of a new marketing campaign, Google Street View was recently used in South
Africa to bring the classic Volkswagen
Beetle "Punch Buggy" game to online customers around the globe by
displaying Street View images taken in Cape Town, South Africa, and asking
viewers to click on the VWs that they see.
Google's
Street View program has been a source of controversy-particularly over concerns
about privacy-since it first started more than five years ago. As part of the
program, Google cars have been sent around the world to take photographs in
order to create street-level views of communities, which then can be accessed
by Google users.